Lou Gehrig is a major role model of mine. He suffered from ALS which is a form of muscular dystrophy

Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939. He probably was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. He had a lifetime batting average of .340, slugged 493 home runs and drove in 1995 RBIs. He's definitely the greatest first baseman of all time. However his career came to an end due to his battle with ALS, a form of muscular dystrophy. He retired in 1939 and would die from ALS in 1941 at the age of 37.however he left a lasting impact upon the world. He never complained about the circumstances of his disease and still considered himself "the luckiest man ".

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you."